Heartaches and Tears – Episode 23

HEARTACHES AND TEARS – Episode 23
A story by Kennedy C Katongo
THE PRICE OF LOVE -P-2
I overhead her tell a colleague of hers that what I had said made sense following what Mr Mbewe had told her after talking to Nathan.
I wasted no time. I got my phone and called Nathan, I wanted to find out if he was going to come to the hospital. And the other thing, I wanted to ask him on what would happen once KK was out of his comma. It was common sense they would still question him to hear his side of the story. Not only that, non of us knew the reason why the fight broke out in the first place.
Nathan assured me he would come, however, he had no idea what time. Because he still had not met with his wife.
@@ @@ MABLE @@ @@
It had been more than an hour since I had received the photos my husband had sent me on Whatsapp. Even though I had never seen this same Amanda, their was a way Nathan just spoke about her. One could tell if they closely observed that it wasn’t about the s€× between-the-two, there was a strong connection. I recalled how he walked up to me in the Kitchen, he looked mad, his hands were shaking. Despite knowing him for years, there were only a few times my husband had gotten that angry.
I knew he meant every word when he said there was nothing going on. But come one, he took a beating for her and he was ready to go back and fight for her.
Maybe I was thinking too much, maybe I was being stingy – but what’s a woman to do when she can clearly see that her man has feelings for another woman other than her. I walked around the bedroom, I couldn’t contain the jealousy I felt. Forget the blood and stained floor, I wanted Nathan to be mine and mine alone… But now, I felt like I was sharing him.
From the bedroom, I heard the front door unlock. It was heading to 21hrs. I knew it was him, I got a Chitenge and covered myself, then I rushed to meet him.
He looked tired, his clothes were a mess and he had a bad smell coming from his clothes, it was definitely the blood that had clotted on his clothes.
“You in a Chitenge?” He asked me immediately I walked in.
“Yes. I was about to sleep when I heard the door. Let me warm you some water for bathing.” I told him.
“No! No! It’s okay. Don’t worry, I can do that.” He smiled. He extended his hand and car-ssed my cheeks.
I held his hand, I didn’t want him to do that. “Can you please not touch my cheeks. Let me just warm you warm.” I insisted. Without a response from him, I walked out.
“Mable!” He called out to me. His voice echoed with authority such that my body froze. I felt the shivers creep on my body. “Steaming hot. If that’s possible.” He added.
Personally, I had never been good at faking nor hiding my emotions. If Candle hadn’t gone to Livingstone, I would have called her over. Seeing my husband made me feel broken, it made me feel like an option to him – questions such as, “Would he do the same for me as he has done for that girl?” Kept haunting me.
.
.
.
“Mable, can you come here a bit.” He called me from the bathroom.
I took my roll of tissue and placed it back on the stand. I wasn’t scre-ming, but that didn’t stop tears from just pouring out of my eyes. I didn’t want him to call me for a second time so I walked fast to get to the bathroom. It was in the same room after all.
“Yes please…” I responded once I got to the shower. He opened the curtain, his body was all virile, the steam that filled the shower and the water dripping off his chest. For some strange reason I covered my face and began to giggle.
“What? Why you laughing?” He asked me.
“I don’t want to see you unclad.”
“What! Girl stop tripping. You have seen me unclad a billion times. Come here, I want you to do my back for me.” He said while wiping the water off his face to see clearly.
“First close your eyes.” I told him.
“Are you being for real? Okay. My eyes are closed.” With his hands on his face, he turned around to look the other way. I undressed, but remained in my boxer. I wasn’t the type to sleep unclad.
I closed the curtain and got behind him. His back was all bumpy and swollen from the beatings he had gotten.
I got the bathing form and squeezed some liquid soap on it. With care, I began to rub his back. Without realising it, I didn’t feel the pain anymore. Being in that moment with him made me acknowledge one thing; Nathan was my man.
I carefully washed his back, then went down to his legs as he stood with his eyes closed.
“Careful down there.” He said as he twitched.
“What? You think I can hurt you?”
“Not at all, the gun is loaded.” He laughed.
Hearing him laugh warmed my spirit. He had been all serious since he got back after all.
@@ @@ MWAKA @@ @@
The night had gone by and Mr Saturday was no were to be seen. I didn’t want to call him, after all, things might have taken a twist at his place. I used the hospital showers to bath because I didn’t want to leave the Hospital without seeing Amanda.
A nurse then approached me and told me she was doing fine. Just a few things were left and she would be put in the ward.
In the morning, I was woken up by a tap on the leg.
“Why are you sleeping like you are home?” She asked me. I opened my eyes and a big set of eyes were looking at me.
“You know the bed is for the patient right?” She asked me again.
“Amanda! You awake!” I exclaimed as I hugged her.
“Hey! careful. My tummy still hurts.” She said as she pushed me.
I had gotten tired of dozing on the chair when they brought her back from the Theatre. So I decided to join her on the bed. After all, it seemed bigger than most beds found in the hospital.
“Mwaka! Whose going to pay for all this? You know this is high cost right?” Amanda asked me. I hadn’t even paid attention to the room when the nurse was showing me where she had been put. ‘So this is what having money means?’ I thought to myself as I looked around.
There was a young man in a long white coat that stood at the door looking at us as we stayed amazed. He later introduced himself as a Doctor. My blood never boiled for these guys, all of them were player to the core.
“You don’t have to worry about payments. You have been brought in under Mr Nathan Chanda’s Care-Card.” He said as he walked up to Amanda and asked her a bunch of questions regarding how she was feeling.
“Excuse me Dr. Is he around? Nathan.” She asked.
“Yes he is. His actually been here since 6:30. He found the two of you sleeping and insisted that we don’t remove your friend front the bed.” The Dr said as he looked at me. “Oh! There he is…”
At that moment Nathan walked in. Behind him was a man of standard height and dark in complexion. He was being accompanied by a lady, Thelma. I did the math, that man had to be Nathan’s friend.
Nathan didn’t say anything when he entered the room. He just looked at Amanda, smiled at her and then gave me a wave. The two officers began intEr×¢ting with Amanda and then everyone began laughing. A slim tall Nurse walked in and then whispered something to the Dr. He then asked her to close the door. I knew something serious was about to start, thank God Mr Saturday had paid the bill.
“So… Okay. Were to start from. Despite the beating you got, you didn’t break any ribs. All your org-ns are fine. However, you did pass out because you lost a lot of blood. At first we thought it was some rupture in the stomach that might have caused the excessive bleeding. However, that wasn’t the case.” The Dr said.
“We had an ultrasound scan ordered. The results showed that you were 4 months pregnant. Where you aware of that?” The Dr asked her.
There was total silence in the room. It was so quite, that it became scary. On my end, I was shocked, I had no idea that Amanda was pregnant. To think of it, she had become very selective of food and ate a lot. The mood swings and all, but since I wasn’t found home most of the time, I failed to catch it.
To be continued…